Picnic at Glass Rock
by herdustisverypretty
Summary: When Gwin arrives at a high-class, co-ed, Australian boarding school, she-along with her new friends-discover the reasons of the disappearances in the bushland and strange rock formations near their school.
1. Glass Rock Private Academy

**Picnic at Glass Rock**

**Please do not copy or re-create this Fanfiction without my permission. Snaps to Joan Lindsey and Queenie Chan for their original stories. The only things I have "borrowed" are the title and the general plotline of Aussie schoolgirls disappearing into the Australian bushland, oh and of course the idea of a rock formation!**

**The first blurb I wrote is here, as it wouldn't fit in the summary box!: Gwendolyn Queens arrives at the Glass Rock Private Academy in Australia, a pristine and high-class co-ed boarding school. There, along with her new friends Cadence, Echo, and Ebony, she learns of the history of Glass Rock, the strange rock formations near the school. Gwin and her friends discover the countless disappearances over the school's 160 year existence, beginning with the daughter of the 'founder' of Glass Rock. When the school takes a field trip to Glass Rock, the students begin to vanish.**

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Glass Rock Academy

Gwendolyn Queens peered through the car window, bubbling with excitement. Her new school, the Glass Rock Private Academy, loomed ahead. Gwin's parents were divorced, and usually she lived with her father, Jason, but he was flying to Africa for his new zoologist job, which he was unable to bring her along to. So he was now driving her down a rain-washed road in an idyllic countryside in southern New South Wales.

"Gwinny, look!" she heard her father say. "There's your new school! Looks amazin' don't it?"

"Wow," Gwin said in awe. The building was visible now. It was a giant mansion with ivy crawling up its grey, stone walls. "That certainly is a sight to be seen."

Jason parked the car in the guest parking section, and they hopped out.

"I'll get your suitcase, hon. You head on up an' tell em' we're here," he said.

Gwin skipped up to the ornate wooden double doors, and stepped inside. The room had polished wooden floorboards, and royal blue wallpaper, covered in photos and pictures, many of which were stained with age. An older woman with greying brown hair was sitting at a fancy looking desk, paperwork and various writing implements cluttering its surface.

"Uh, hi. I'm Gwendolyn. Queens. I'm a new student here," said Gwin. The woman looked up and studied her face.

"Isn't your father that nature man?" she asked after a moment.

"Zoologist, yeah," Gwin replied. The woman nodded intently, and began to rummage through piles of papers. Gwin heard a noise, and turned to see her father wheeling her suitcase through the doors.

"Geez Gwinny, what've you got in here? A gallon of mercury?" he panted, smiling.

"Alright, here's your timetable," the woman at the desk said, placing a sheet of paper in front of Gwin. "And…here we go. This is a map of the school. Now, girls aren't allowed in the boys' hall, likewise they're not allowed in the girls'. Don't get them mixed," she said, handing Gwin another piece of paper. "Right, well someone was supposed to come and show you around. Wonder where they've gone to. I'll just have a quick look. Mr Queens and Gwendolyn, just have a seat over there."

The woman ran quickly off down a hallway, and left Gwin and her father alone, standing in the entrance hall. Mr Queens checked his watch, and sighed.

"Gwinny I've got to run, or else I'll be late for the flight," he said. "You gonna be alright here?"

"Yeah, sure. You'll call right? They do have phones in Africa, don't they?" Gwin asked panicky. Her dad just laughed.

"Where I'll be, yes!" Jason hugged Gwin tightly, and wiped away a tear that had fallen down her cheek. "Don't worry; I can see you in the holidays."

Gwin nodded and they said their goodbyes. She watched as he headed outside, and drove away, back down the long driveway.

"Ah, Gwendolyn? Mr Que-oh, he's gone," the woman who had been at the desk had reappeared, a girl of about fifteen-the same as Gwin-by her side.

"He had to leave, to catch his plane," said Gwin.

"Yes well, this is Cadence Lafferty. She'll be one of your roommates," the woman said.

"One?"

"Yes, we're in a room of four," Cadence explained. "Right, well come on then. I'll show you where our room is. You won't have much time. Dinner is in half an hour."

Gwin grabbed her suitcase and began hauling it along behind Cadence. They walked down the same hall that the woman had before, and they turned off to the right and entered a giant square courtyard, grass covering the majority of it. Cadence led Gwin off to a building across to the far left. As they neared it, Gwin saw girls who looked ages from thirteen to eighteen were pushing out through the glass doors. The hallway inside was even more crowded, and Gwin found it difficult to pull her heavy suitcase along, as well as keep up with Cadence. But luckily they stopped outside room two.

"Here we go," Cadence said, turning the handle. As Gwin stepped inside she was surprised at the quality of the room. The floors were a soft, cream carpet, there were four beds, each with their own bedside table. The beds had curtains sweeping around them, and floor-length curtains flanked the tall, French windows.

"Whoa. _This_ is our room? Oh, I could get used to this!" Gwin said happily, wheeling her suitcase over to the bed that wasn't covered in stuff.

Gwin glanced at a clock hanging on the wall. It read 6:40pm. Gwin's timetable had said dinner was at seven. Still twenty minutes.

"So where are our other roommates?" she asked.

"Ebony and Echo are probably off getting a good table," Cadence said, jumping onto her own bed. "You have to get in early unless you want to get a table near the SDs, and be pestered by them all night."

"Uh, SDs?"

"Sitting ducks. Sort of an inside joke."

"Oh. And they need to be half an hour early?"

"True. They could be in the library. Or in the common room," said Cadence. "That's where most people hang out in the afternoons and such."

"So…classes start on Monday?" Gwin sighed. "Are the teachers strict here?"

"Some of them are. Like Mr Balson is horrible. He gives you detention for little things, like breathing loudly, or sniffing if you have a cold," said Cadence. Gwin's mouth fell open. "And then Miss Griffins is a major bitch. But the French teacher Miss Irvine is really nice."

Time went by as Gwin unpacked her suitcase, setting things up on the bedside table.

"Gwendolyn, it's-"

"Just call me Gwin."

"Sure, well it's dinner time. We better head over to the dining hall," Cadence said, checking her watch. "And while we're on the subject of nicknames, mine's Caddy."

The pair set off for the dining hall, which turned out to be adjacent to the entryway. It was already packed with people, boys and girls. Caddy craned her neck to see where her friends were, and spotted them at a table against the wall near the window where people were being served.

"Hey guys, this is our new roommate, Gwin," she said to the two other girls there.

"Hi Gwin, I'm Ebony," one with wild, bronze curls and pale brown eyes said.

"And I'm Echo," the girl with dark brown hair said.

"Hi! It's great to be here!" said Gwin excitedly, sitting down, her back facing the wall, beside Echo.

"Right, well now you two are here, we're going to get food," Echo said. "We've been here for ages. I'm starving!"

After everyone had finished dinner, Gwin followed the trio back to their room.

"So Gwin, people are saying your dad works with animals," said Ebony.

"Yeah, he's a zoologist, he works in behaviour ecology and a bit of evolutionary biology."

"Oh wow!" said Echo. "So he studies how animals behave?" Gwin nodded.

"Cool. Anyway, since it's your first night here, I figure we should tell spooky stories!" Caddy said, turning to the others.

"No!" Ebony complained.

"Not those kind, about the school, Ebb," Echo said.

"I still think it's creepy," Ebony muttered.

"The school?"

"Well, of the natural landscape. Like the bushland and stuff," said Caddy.

"What happens?"

"Well this school is almost a hundred and sixty years old, and all of the bushland around the school is like, thousands of years old," Echo began. "Apparently there's this indigenous Australian legend that some fearsome creature lives in the forests. And it will kidnap you and eat you if you go in there."

"Wow. That's…creepy. What kind of creature?"

"Who knows or cares," said Caddy. "But it's just all stories. Even still, we aren't allowed in the forests unless with a teacher or something."

"So has anyone actually gone missing in there?"

At that Caddy, Echo, and Ebony glanced at each other.

"What?" Gwin asked.

"Well it's just that, while the creature is just a story, people going missing…" Echo trailed off.

"Wait, people _have_ gone missing? How many?" Gwin demanded. She found the situation to be incredibly creepy and weird. "How many?"

"Fifty two…" whispered Ebony.

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**So how is it? I had to replace the story as I rewrote it a little bit. Anyways, please leave reviews! (Not that anyone ever reads 'misc book X-overs')**

**-Nix**


	2. The Disappearances

**Please do not copy or re-create this Fanfiction without my permission. Snaps to Joan Lindsey and Queenie Chan for their original stories.**

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_The Disappearances_

"_Fifty two_? _Fifty two_ people have gone missing? Seriously?"

"Uh huh. It's shocking. It's really quite surprising that the school's reputation hasn't been tarnished," said Caddy.

"How come I'd never heard of any missing people in this area?" Gwin asked, in complete shock.

"The school kind of covered everything up. No one ever found out about the missing people but the students, and the families of the missing students," said Echo.

"How could they cover that kind of thing up? Surely people would tell," Gwin said.

"It's like we're sworn to secrecy."

"Hang on…how many of these missing students were found?" Gwin asked, and once again, all she got were nervous stares. "Well?"

"One," said Caddy. "She was the last person to go missing, but that was…ten years ago I think."

"What happened to her?"

"Well apparently she was so out of it, and she couldn't remember anything. She just kept mumbling about something shiny," said Echo. "She's been in a psych ward ever since. Couldn't even remember her family, or her name."

"What was her name?"

"Um…you'd probably have to check the library," said Caddy. "They've got records of the disappearances."

Gwin inhaled, excited.

"Uh uh, missy," Ebony said, sensing what she wanted to do. "You go down to the library you'll be there all night."

"But that would be fun!" Gwin exclaimed.

"Reading old records? Yeah, fun," Ebony jumped backwards onto her bed.

"Fine, you win," said Gwin in defeat, hopping onto her own bed. "So what sort of stuff do you guys do for fun anyway?"

"Well, you can hang out in the common room. They basically just play music and have snacks out all day," said Caddy.

"And the library is practically a Borders," said Echo.

"As in it has a Gloria Jeans?"

"Sadly no. That'd be pretty awesome though," Ebony sighed.

"Oh and there's always parties."

"And cute boys!"

"Ooh! I'm liking boarding school!" Gwin laughed.

The next morning-Sunday-Gwin woke up early, and stared out the window onto the dew-covered, mint-green grass of the square courtyard. It was the first day she had woken up in a strange place, and without her father. She pulled on her jacket and a pair of boots before heading outside, quietly pulling the door shut. Gwin unlocked the glass door in the hallway, and stepped out into the cold June air. Her long, brown hair flew around her face, her fringe keeping her warm. And then she saw something odd. Over by the boy's dormitory hall, sitting on a bench was a boy. He had a book on his lap, and appeared to be drawing in it. Deciding to investigate, she walked over to him, her hands in her pockets.

"Hi," she breathed, teeth chattering.

"Hey," the boy looked up. He had blonde-brown hair and pale green eyes. He certainly was very cute.

"What are you drawing?" Gwin sat down beside him, peering at the sketch book he held. She saw a brief flash of something before the boy covered it with his hands.

"Nothin' much. I'm Jack, by the way. Jack Chapel," he said.

"Gwin Queens," said Gwin.

"That's a pretty name," Jack said, folding his sketch book shut.

"Thanks. Jack's pretty good too," Gwin said, even though she was thinking that Jack was a very common name.

"So why are you up so early, Gwin?" Jack asked. "Most girls I know would hate to be up now."

"Well last night was my first night here, and it was just kind of weird," Gwin answered truthfully.  
"Oh that's right, you're the new girl. With the zoologist dad."

"You know, you're the first one who actually knew what he did," said Gwin, slightly impressed.

"Word travels fast."  
"So what are _you_ doing up this early?"

"Well I just like to come out here to draw sometimes. In the air. Away from all the people," Jack said, closing his eyes and smelling the country air. "Alright, Gwin you look freezing. Didn't you know it's colder here then up north?"

"Sort of slipped my mind. I think I might…head back to my room," Gwin shivered. "It was nice meeting you."

"I'll walk you over," Jack offered, standing up and stretching.

"But my building's just there!"

"Well we all need the exercise don't we?"

"Oh, tell me again what his name was?" Echo asked excitedly when Gwin returned to her room.

"Jack Chapel," she said.

"Hm. Jack Chapel…I think he's in the grade above us," said Caddy.

"Hey, now that it's morning, can we go to the library?" Gwin asked quickly.

"Yeah, yeah. There's a lot of stuff on the missing cases though, you could be there all day-" Ebony began, but then she saw Gwin's face. "That's a good thing isn't it?"

So they all walked to the library, which was near the common room.

"The records are over here. And really I'm not sure if we're supposed to look at them, cos they're in this cupboard over here," said Echo, leading Gwin over to a table with a cupboard underneath in. She opened it and pulled out a dusty looking book.

"Wow, how old would this be?" Gwin said, lifting the front cover. The pages were yellowed and she could barely understand the running writing. "Why did old people have to write so…fancy? It's impossible to read."

"I know, where's your grandparents when you need them. Anyway, the book is around one hundred and sixty years old, just like the school," said Echo, pointing to the date on the first page.

1st/2nd/1850

"Wow…eighteen fifty" Gwin said. She began to read what was written below. "'I…Abe? Abe…Vass, have o-opened Glass Rock Academy today.' That is really old."

"Yup. Now most of this is just stuff that happened through the year, teachers that were hired, students admitted, because it was really small back then," Echo began, flipping over the page. "But, on this page, things change a bit."

"What happened?"

"The first disappearance. The daughter of the guy who opened the school. Lexus Vass," said Ebony.

"So her dad, Abe, wrote that on Christmas Eve, Lexus said she was going for a walk to Glass Rock, not very far from the school," said Caddy. "He wrote that she never came back, and that even after countless searching, she was never found."

"Scary. What else is there?" Gwin asked, squinting at the writing.

"Nothing else on Lexus. No one knows anything else about her," said Echo. "Abe just wrote, 'my daughter Lexus, and my son Thomas are the first students here at Glass Rock.', and then 'my precious Lexi has gone from the school grounds. She hasn't been found, and the search parties have disbanded'."

"Sad. That would have been horrible, losing his daughter," said Gwin.

"Mm. He hired a vice-principal after that, and spent most of his time searching for her," said Echo.

"What about all the other disappearances?"

"Well, the next one happened in…1855. Here. 'Jenny Stevens, a girl of grade ten, vanished in the Glass Forest surrounding the school on the 15th April. Search parties have scoured the land, including the rock formations known as Glass Rock, but to no avail.'," Ebony read.

"After that, there was…May Jones in 1859. She disappeared on the…2nd of September," Echo read from the book. "It says, 'Two year eight students, May Jones and Abigail Sutton, were out in the forest, when Abigail returned to campus to get some water, while May stayed behind. When Abigail went back to the forest, May was gone. After days of searching, May has not been found.'"

"Who was after that?"

"Well, after that, it says, 'Abe Vass has been found dead, fallen into a crevice at Glass Rock, after hitting his head on the rocks'," Caddy read. "After that, the new principal, Headmaster Charles, did all the writing. So next was a one Lisa Shae. She went missing on the…4th of July, 1864. 'Lisa Shae of year nine has gone missing in the Glass Forest late last evening. A number of students report having seen her leave the common room and to the entry hall. The secretary says that Lisa never came past, and could of snuck out the door in the principal's office.'"

"Why did she leave? Running away or something?" Gwin asked.

"Nobody knows. It doesn't mention anything else about her, just that she was never found," Ebony said.

"What does it say about the most recent disappearance?"

"Um…let's see. Ok, here we are," said Caddy, flipping through many of the pages. "'On the 22nd of October, 1998, year eleven student Christina Swift was reported missing. Students claim they saw her walking to the forest in the early morning. After not returning for some while, her roommates went to investigate. They found a shred of her jacket on the ground, only metres into the forest.'," Echo read. "And then the page when she was found…here. 'Today, on the 5th of April, 1999, Christina Swift has been found. She was discovered on the edges of the forest, far north from the school by a driver, who promptly drove her to the Academy on seeing the emblem on her school shirt. Christina is in no condition to speak of the ordeal, and will not be returning to the Academy. She is being sent to Psychiatric Ward of Glass Rock Memorial Hospital.'"

"Whoa. I wonder if she's still there," Gwin said.

"Maybe. She'd be…29 I think," said Echo.

"And she was really the only person found?"

"Uh huh. Spooky, eh?" said Caddy.

"So what happened to Abe's family. It said he had a son too," asked Gwin.

"Well Abe wrote…here's the page. He wrote, 'Tom and Elizabeth have left Glass Rock for Sydney, following Lexi's disappearance…'"

"That's so sad," Gwin said at last. "He was all alone when he died. He must have been searching for Lexus when he fell and hit his head at the rocks. This school certainly does have a tragic past."


	3. The Old Dress

**Please do not copy or re-create this Fanfiction without my permission. Snaps to Joan Lindsey and Queenie Chan for their original stories. **

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_The Old Dress_

After spending hours in the library, Gwin had read up on all fifty two of the missing cases.

"Alright are we done here? Seriously? This is so beyond boring," said Caddy, yawning.

"I suppose so. Well, what do we do then," asked Gwin, shutting the logbook.

"Well, we could always go down to the sports field?" said Ebony, very hopeful.

"Anything else?" Gwin shook her head, to which Ebony frowned.

"Um. We have a TV in our room, or we could hang around in the common room," began Echo. "Though it's probably pretty slow around now."

"Why don't we go to the dining hall? It's about lunchtime anyway," suggested Gwin.

As they filed into the dining hall, Gwin noticed it was half-full, and it was mostly just people lounging around, reading textbooks and going over notes for class.

"So are you guys allowed to go into town occasionally?" Gwin asked when they had sat down at a table.

"Yeah sometimes. Students in year eleven and twelve are allowed to go whenever they want, but they aren't allowed to walk, and only half of them have cars anyway," explained Caddy.

"But once a month the teacher's arrange a couple of buses for the rest of us to go out for the day," said Echo.

"When's the next time we leave?"

"Uh…next weekend I think. It's usually the last weekend of each month that we go," said Ebony.

"Oh my God," Gwin said suddenly. The guy she had met that morning, Jack, had just walked into the hall, a couple of other guys with him.

"What, what?"

"That guy, there, in the middle, with the blonde-ish hair," Gwin pointed subtly. "That's Jack!"

"Oh! Drawing boy," said Echo, peering over at him.

"He's actually kinda hot, Gwin. Nice choice," Caddy giggled.

"Shh!" Gwin said. But it was too late, Jack had spotted them. He waved to her, not seeming to worry about his friends. Gwin waved back nervously.

"He so likes you!" Ebony smiled.

"Oh, shut it! Anyway, what is the latest gossip here?"

"Not much. The school's pretty boring, really. There's a tower, which they used for astronomy classes _years_ ago. And apart from your, _special friend_, over there, there isn't much on the boy front," said Echo.

Gwin lay awake in her bed. She was staring at her alarm clock that she had only just plugged in. It was midnight. Gwin could hear the soft chatter of her new friends through the curtains. She had said she was tired and wanted to sleep, even though they had wanted to stay up for a while. But the voices soon stopped, and the dim light from a bedside lamp flickered into darkness.

Gwin thought about her dad, all the way in Africa, probably trailing a lion or something. And then her thoughts switched to her mother. Her mother was more interested in her career then being a mother, so when her parents had got divorced six years back, Gwin was immediately put in the care of her father, a wise choice by the judge, she figured.

She thought of what her mother was doing at that moment. Living in some fancy apartment in Sydney, with beach views, no doubt. Probably with some young, new boyfriend. She seemed to get a new one every couple of months.

Deciding to try to sleep, Gwin closed her eyes, but opened them moments later. She sat up in bed, and pulled back the curtains. Her roommates were asleep. Gwin climbed out of bed, and pulled on her boots and jacket once again. She carefully opened the door, and pulled it shut as she stepped into the hallway, making sure she had her room key. She headed outside once again. Lights were on, keeping the school grounds bright enough to see where she was going. Gwin looked to her right as she reached the corner of the girls' dorm. She could see the tower that Echo had mentioned, standing tall next to the moon. And then she saw something. A shape. A dark shape. It was a person walking-quickly. It must have been a boy, as they had come from the boys' dormitory. They were headed for the office it seemed. Gwin followed them, keeping far away from the wall so that she would be harder to spot in the darker, middle of the courtyard. She ran quickly to hold the door as the person slipped inside the hallway. They stopped, and looked around, before walking over to a door. The staffroom, Gwin supposed. Gwin noticed the boy had black hair, though that didn't narrow it down much, as she had met only one boy.

The boy opened the staffroom door, and went inside. Gwin snuck over to the door, and peered through a gap. He was at another door. The principal's office! This boy was sneaking out, presumably how it was expected some of the missing girls got out of the school at night. But there were no records of boys going missing. So what was he doing? Gwin ran to the second door after the mystery-man opened it. He was now searching through the office, looking for something. Which he found soon. A key. A key to the door leading outside. He _was_ escaping.

Gwin snuck to the third door, and stuck her head out. The boy was now running across the grass towards the forest. The Glass Forest. _The_ forest. Where everyone went missing.

"This is getting stranger and stranger," Gwin frowned. She made sure she left the door open, and crouched slightly, running after the boy. He stopped a couple of metres into the forest. Gwin hid behind a tree and waited. He didn't seem to be doing anything. He was simply standing there. When all of a sudden, he began to speak.

"I am here," he called out, in a sort of droning voice. But all the same, Gwin recognised it. And then the boy pulled off a beanie. He had been wearing a hat! And underneath was the familiar fair hair that belonged to Jack Chapel. He didn't say anything else, but looked around a bit, waiting.

He thinks someone's there, thought Gwin. She whipped her head around, looking for signs of approaching people. Nothing. Just silence. But then she heard Jack gasp. Gwin flung her head around, and was stunned. A girl was standing in front of Jack. She looked strange though. She was wearing really funny clothes. Old looking. And she had long, unnaturally curled hair. She looked as though straight out of a Victorian painting.

"Jack!" the girl said. Her voice sounded…strange. "How wonderful it is that you are here! Come now, follow me."

The girl turned around, and began to walk deep into the woods, with Jack following her. Gwin checked her watch. It was late. Very late. She watched as the girl and Jack vanished into the darkness. Gwin figured she should return to bed, and forget about what happened.

"Alright, class, take your seats," the teacher, Mr Herald, said, dully. "So as you all know, we have a new student. Gwendolyn Queens. Make her feel at home. Now, moving on. Who can tell me what total internal refraction is?"

A couple of hands at the front raised, presumably the nerds of the class.

"Well, this is fun," Gwin whispered.

"I hate science," Caddy replied.

"Well who wouldn't after they said a platypus was a plant," Echo smirked.

"What! You really said a platypus was a plant?" Gwin tried to restrain herself from laughing.

"Eh, classification in year seven. I swear, it was an accident!"

"Uh, ladies? Would you care to elaborate on what is so funny?" Mr Herald asked in his monotone voice.

"No, sir, we're good!" Ebony said.

"Hey, guys, I'll be back…soon," Gwin said at lunchtime. She had spotted Jack walking past, which caused her to remember what happened in the forest, which she had forgotten mostly and thought now to be a dream.

"Gwin!" Jack said, smiling. "How's your first school day going?"

"Uh, alright. So, you haven't been in the forest lately…have you?" Gwin asked. Jack looked puzzled.

"No, I haven't. We're not allowed in the forests unless we have special permission," he replied.

"Oh, ok. Never mind then, I'll see you later, kay?" said Gwin, walking backwards as she spoke. She spun around quickly and began to walk back to the dining hall where her friends were waiting.

"So, what was that all about, hm?" asked Ebony when Gwin had rejoined them.

"I was just talking to Jack about this dream I had," she said.

"Ooh a dream! Spill!"

"Not like that. It was weird. I was following someone around the school, and you know in that old book how it said they thought some of the girls escaped through the principal's office back door?" Gwin began. The others nodded. "Well the person I was following did that! And they ran into the forest. And when I followed them, I saw that the person was Jack. And then this weird, Victorian-looking girl appeared. And she led him off into the forest."

"Huh. That is weird. Sure you haven't eaten something funny?" said Caddy.

"Course I haven't. But it felt so real. It was strange," Gwin said. There was something about her dream, something she couldn't put her finger on.

"And wait, you said you _told Jack_ about it?" Echo asked.

"Well not exactly. I just asked if he'd been in the forest."

Caddy, Echo, and Ebony looked at Gwin curiously.

"Come on, we've got history next, yawn," said Ebony.


End file.
